Identity theft, cheating and corruption in college admission in China

Reports on corruption in college admission abound worldwide, but empirical research thereof is scarce. This is the first empirical study of a distinctive form of cheating through corruption in college admissions in China, namely identity theft in college admission (ITCA). Based on an in-depth analysis of 47 cases, we found that rural students were particularly vulnerable to ITCA, which was characterized by a systemic network involving the falsification of identity documents for a passive impostor who was often pressured to comply under the influence of traditional family values. We adopted a social capital approach to examining the ITCA network’s characteristics, cognitive (in)congruence among co-offenders, and the facilitating roles of trust, obligations and norms in its operation. The findings show that ITCA is the result of a confluence of rural–urban inequality, systemic corruption and family-centred collectivist values.